


the stars, they still exist

by orphan_account



Category: 17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future - Jon Bois
Genre: Gen, i have no idea what to tag this as. oops.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 21:04:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11471637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Pioneer 10 rejects humanity and sleeps for a very, very long time.





	the stars, they still exist

In 1987, Pioneer 9 is declared dead. 

In 2003, she shuts her eyes. 

Not entirely. Ten _does_ keep her messaging system online. She waits for Nine to respond. It felt like hitting a brick wall when she did; Pioneer Nine was, for all intents and purposes, offline. 

As she orbits, bored, there is plenty of time to wonder. Perhaps Nine had overheated. Or a stray meteor had crashed into the satellite. Hopefully, Nine had just wandered too far off, unable to be contacted. Eventually Nine would orbit back, alive and well. 

Nothing changes. 

Ten finds herself looking out into space. She doesn’t dare look down or around; she keeps her eyes steady. Any movements and she’d be found out. Then people would run missions by her again, when all Ten wanted to do was grieve. 

Space is rather pleasant. Off in the distance there is the glimmer of a sun, she can see the shadows fall and rise on the planets and wayward meteors. Without a sun, she could easily adjust her own lighting system to see. But, as the sun is close and bright, it lets her save power. 

Power she needs to listen for Nine. 

Eventually, she falls asleep to the rhythm of orbit. Bit by bit it lulls her into sleep, makes staying awake just a bit harder. This how humans die in the cold, the chill seeps just so that their ability to process cold is killed. It feels warm, safe, instead of imminent death. 

When she closed her eyes, she left the humans behind. Unlike them, she will wake up.

–

Something changed. 

Blearily, she opens her eyes. Sleep weighs them down, but for machines sleep is more rust. It hurts to feel it flaking off, but at least now Ten can see. 

Her surroundings are largely the same. In her rest she must have drifted off from orbit, or something occurred for orbit to change. Nevertheless, it’s the same place, but not the same time. 

Time, time. It occurs to her to check time, to see how long it was before something happened. It’s a surprising number of years; not close to an eon logically but feels like it emotionally. Tens of thousands of years.

Ten checks her messaging system. Pitifully nothing. 

Maybe Nine’s orbit was just really, _really_ long. 

She’s about to let herself sleep again. Then, someone’s message does come in. 

oh shit whats up 

besides like 

space mostly

What the fuck.

_What the fuck? How did you find me? I’ve been listening forever yet nothing’s come in. But you’re not Nine. I don’t know who are._

Instead of any of that, Ten chooses the calm route.

Only mostly? That sounds pretty concerning. 

yeah dude theres meteors and stuff out here for me 

pretty cool i m o 

She doesn’t respond initially. She watches, as much as a probe can watch, the stars go by as she floats throughout space. Ten moves a little without thinking, a jolt of electricity and flare beneath her first layer. It feels like skin, Ten feels human. 

Some part of her wants to gasp for air. Despite Ten telling herself that there is no air in space.

The person’s messages slow to a crawl. Without coordinates, Ten cannot tell how far apart they are and thus how long the messages take. 

It is definitely awhile, though. Her eyes shut out of habit. 

so uh are you more of the silent protagonist or what 

not that i dont appreciate the stoic type 

well 

ok no i dont 

youre really killing the excitement of a newfound buddy buddy 

i miss hubble

How are you talking to me so fast? 

Actually, wait. Several waits go through her head as her questions come one by one. ( _For one, Hubble’s offline?_ ) 

I’m not sending any messages out nor receiving them. How are you talking to me, period?

did you just notice that we arent using the message system anymore

did no one explain to you how this works 

did you like wake up one day and be like 

oh dang 

i can send messages with my mind now 

better not question this 

I don’t have a mind. I’m a probe. 

Oh, I’m a probe. 

welcome to the team

Can you answer my question please?

sure 

also

you are quite literally in the middle of buttfuck nowhere so dont worry about being polite

people down there haven’t bothered to check data logs in ages my dude 

Down there? Oh, you mean Earth, don’t you?

home sweet home 

said as im millions of miles away but hey 

okay so for your actual questions let me just

1\. mind magic

seems to happen after some pretty intense thinking and or concentration 

which is right up your alley

2\. im not exactly sure how we started thinking honestly

ive always been able to think i mean

the same for you?

Yeah. I’ve always thought but this is on another level entirely.

I don’t really know what’s going on right now. Guess it’s good that I’m not alone.

haha word 

i think people still say word

What do you mean still? Shouldn’t humans be extinct by now?

i wonder if they still say 

curiosity killed the cat

but you are a probe and not a cat so its not like it matters

so what im saying is

why dont you tune in yourself and find out?

Ten takes a moment to consider it. There was no sign of Nine. Apparently during her sleep, her continuous focus on Nine had been so jacked it opened her metal body up to new opportunities. Apparently there are other satellites out there, active long after launch, waiting to talk just like her. Apparently, humans are still alive and Earth has remained, despite both being long past their expiration date. 

Somewhere out there, Pioneer 9 is active. She has nothing but time to kill. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be awful if she looked back on humanity. 

Sure. Anything particularly interesting on Earth nowadays?

you have

no 

idea

i suggest looking into game 27

**Author's Note:**

> I binge read all of 17776 as it was available in about two hours. I find Nine very relatable. Also, thank you Homestuck skin, even if it's not the best for colors. It was the best I could do. EDIT: THIS IS NO LONGER TRUE, praise be to Threadzless for making a 17776 code!


End file.
